Though you probably remember her best as Vada Sultenfuss or perhaps “that little cutie from My Girl,” Anna Chlumsky, now 28, has lived much of her life far removed from the golden glitter of Hollywood.

“Show business got really tainted for me,” Chlumsky explained, still wearing the characteristic smile that lit up the screen in My Girl and My Girl 2. For years, a third My Girl film (tentatively titled Still My Girl) has been in the works. Dan Aykroyd and Chlumsky are both attached to the project.

After achieving big screen success, Chlumsky promptly disappeared from the spotlight. She graduated high school and went on to get her college education from the University of Chicago. Chlumsky was married in 2008.

And now, it seems her long hiatus from acting is coming to an end. She’s returned to the public eye with In the Loop, a comedy that opened in limited release last weekend.

“During my second year of college I was like, ‘I’m over it! I have to go see what this other thing called life is about!’” Chlumsky explained of her acting break.

But after a fateful meeting with Roberta Flack, at a nail salon, Chlumsky dove back into the world she left behind. After years of acting classes in Brooklyn, she was ready to re-enter the world of entertainment. “I haven’t looked back.”  She’ll soon be starring opposite Alexis Bledel in The Good Guy later this year.

“It’s like breathing again,” Chlumsky told reporters.